The present invention relates generally to paving-type construction equipment and, more particularly, to a self-propelled construction apparatus adapted to continuously slip-form a flowable paving material such as concrete into a predetermined cross-sectional shape along the ground or other base surface.
Self-propelled concrete paving machines of the general type indicated above are known, representative examples being illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,789,266 and 4,808,026, which disclose multi-purpose paving machines that can pave roadways, as well as form curbs, gutters, spillways, sidewalks, troughs, barriers, and other continuous concrete extrusions depending upon the configuration of a mold supported by the machine.
One of the intended advantages of such machines is the selective ability to pave in a continuous slip-form manner a variety of differing cross-sectional configurations. In practice, however, the interchange of one mold for another has proven to be somewhat cumbersome and time-consuming, thereby preventing the intended advantage from being fully realized. In particular, the conventional machines provide an arrangement of mounting bolts on the machine frame to which each individual mold is adapted to be secured. Hence, in demounting an existing mold and mounting a replacement mold, several nut-and-bolt assemblies must be manually manipulated, including manual alignment of the new mold with the mounting bolts after removal of the mold originally in use.